Tour around the ELT conference circuit as our team shares conference highlights and session reviews.

Conferences

<p>That&rsquo;s a picture of Tara Benwell, our VP of Publishing at Ellii. She&rsquo;s been working at Ellii for 16 years and is employee number 3. You would think after so many years working here and attending 11 TESOL conferences, she wouldn&rsquo;t have to be on booth setup duty anymore. But nope, that&rsquo;s her, working with Lei Kayanuma (Director of Accounts), spending an entire laborious day framing the stands, building the podium, unpacking boxes, tightening screws, and lifting super heavy stuff.&nbsp;</p>

<p><img alt="" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/3107/content_a0b9dfe5-8945-429c-8480-047c965bdb4d__1_.JPG" /></p>

<p class="caption">Tara in the Exhibition Hall, setting up for TESOL 2023 in Portland, Oregon.</p>

<p>We&rsquo;ve always been &quot;all hands on deck&quot; at Ellii, and we like it that way. Everyone at the company wears a ton of hats. Working this way has allowed us to just be us, and has enabled us to always stay closely connected to our product and our customers.</p>

<p>For two years, we tried to give everyone very specific tasks and keep everyone in their own lane. But that idea failed, and the fewer&nbsp;hats that people wore, the less connected we all seemed to be, so we&rsquo;ve gone back to a haberdashery of labor, and we love it.&nbsp;</p>

<p><img alt="" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/3104/content_d87c2610-9c09-4844-8afd-c0a39ba5a19f.JPG" /></p>

<p class="caption">Tara and Lei using a new set of skills today as they build the frames for the booth.</p>

<p>If you write an email to us and your question is about content, it&rsquo;s likely the people who respond will be from the Publishing team. The people who wrote the content are the same ones who answer customer support emails when it makes the most sense for them to answer. Why? Because they know the most about it and have the most to gain from hearing from any customer who has concerns, questions, or ideas about the materials.</p>

<p>Our customer service staff are also all hands on deck. They don&rsquo;t just answer emails or phone calls. They create help docs, produce video tutorials, and work directly in tandem with our engineers and design staff to communicate the conversations from customers who have written in about issues and requests.&nbsp;</p>

<p><img alt="" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/3105/content_f37c040a-32de-4440-91bf-583d5b00cb6a.JPG" /></p>

<p class="caption">Lei, Tara, and Tanya pose for a pic at the Ellii booth after putting the final touches on this year&#39;s display.</p>

<p>When you run an all-hands-on-deck company, everyone gets a lot closer to the product and even closer to the customer. The reason this booth looks so amazing is because it was designed by people on the Product team, the Publishing team, and the Accounts team. It was set up today by Tara Benwell (VP of Publishing), Lei Kayanuma (Director of Accounts), and Tanya Trusler (Head of Video Production). And doesn&#39;t it look fantastic, by the way?</p>

<p><img alt="" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/3106/content_c1113bf6-867a-41e0-b128-f8b5dc64771a.JPG" /></p>

<p class="caption">A special shout-out to Sarah at Ellii for designing this year&#39;s beautiful booth banner!</p>

<p>Embracing all hands on deck has allowed us to stay small, lean, agile, and innovative. Give it a try.</p>

<p><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/7ZBufKMlhJg" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe></p>


All Hands on Deck, All the Time

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<p>There are so many incredible English language teaching conferences around the world. It sometimes feels like it&rsquo;s always conference season.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Whether you&rsquo;re attending a large international conference in person (e.g., <a href="https://cms-tesol.ae-admin.com/tesol-convention-2023/schedule">TESOL</a> or <a href="https://www.iatefl.org/conference/home" target="_blank">IATEFL</a>)&nbsp;or joining a virtual&nbsp;conference online&nbsp;(e.g.,&nbsp;<strong>BBELT</strong>, <strong>Educast</strong>, or <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/reflecting-on-elliicon2022" target="_blank">ElliiCon</a>), you&rsquo;ll need to be prepared in order to get the most out of the experience.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Here are some of our top tips.</p>

<h2><b>1. Keep it simple</b>!</h2>

<p>Conferences can be overwhelming. There are often a lot of different sessions to choose from, and there&rsquo;s a risk of feeling like you&rsquo;re constantly rushing from one session to the next.&nbsp;</p>

<p>When I first attended IATEFL, I somehow managed to attend a session in every single time slot. That must have been about 10 sessions a day!</p>

<p>Needless to say, I was exhausted, and I probably didn&rsquo;t have time to process much of what I was learning.&nbsp;</p>

<p>In short, don&rsquo;t do what I did! Take it easy and enjoy the chance for some real&nbsp;professional development.&nbsp;</p>

<h2><b>2. Choose your focus</b></h2>

<p>When there is too much choice, it can help to pick a <strong>developmental goal</strong> or an area of interest and stick to that.&nbsp;</p>

<p>For example, when I was studying for my <a href="https://www.trinitycollege.com/qualifications/teaching-english/diptesol">DipTESOL</a>, I tried to attend as many sessions on <a href="https://ellii.com/lessons/pronunciation">pronunciation</a> as I could. Then, when I was developing as an author and materials writer, my focus shifted to resource creation topics. Nowadays, I&rsquo;m naturally drawn to anything involving <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/graphic-facilitation-101" target="_blank">visual thinking</a>, <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/supporting-students-with-adhd" target="_blank">accessibility</a>, or teaching learners from <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/support-english-learners-from-refugee-backgrounds">refugee backgrounds</a>.&nbsp;</p>

<h2><b>3. Have a (loose) schedule</b></h2>

<p>So you&rsquo;ve chosen your areas of interest&nbsp;and you know it&rsquo;s unrealistic to attend everything. This is where having a plan&nbsp;and prioritizing sessions you are especially interested in helps.&nbsp;</p>

<p>If the conference has an app or a digital program, use the search function (or Ctrl + F) to look for keywords or speakers you want to see. Circle, highlight, or add any specific sessions you want to attend to your diary.&nbsp;You could color code&nbsp;or add some sort of mark to any that you really want to see.&nbsp;</p>

<h2><b>4. Break times are brilliant</b></h2>

<p>Make the most of your break times. It&rsquo;s important to give yourself time to relax and <strong>digest</strong> all the <strong>information</strong>.&nbsp;</p>

<p>If your conference is online, make sure to move around, refuel, and get away from the screen for a while.&nbsp;</p>

<p>If you&rsquo;ve traveled a long way to attend a conference, schedule time to go sightseeing, meet other attendees for a coffee, or have a wander round the exhibition space.&nbsp;</p>

<h2><b>5. Network&nbsp;</b></h2>

<p>What I missed out on most at my very first IATEFL was the <strong>networking</strong>. I was so determined to see as much as I could that I missed out on the real opportunities.</p>

<p>Some of my most life-changing experiences have been when I&rsquo;ve skipped sessions or met someone interesting at break time. I met all three of my publishers for the first time at IATEFL!&nbsp;</p>

<p>Try to strike up conversation with the person sitting beside you during a workshop or over lunch. Conference attendees are typically receptive to making new connections and connecting on social media.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Take photos of sessions you attend, post them on social media, and use any relevant hashtags. If you can, tag the speaker. Most people are delighted to have been mentioned on socials and will probably reshare your post.&nbsp;</p>

<h2><b>6. Sketchnote</b></h2>

<p>It can often be a challenge to stay focused during workshops or talks, especially as the day goes on. One of the best ways to pay attention, process the learning, and identify the key takeaways is to <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/sketchnoting-101-supercharged-professional-development-with-visual-notes" target="_blank">sketchnote</a>.&nbsp;</p>

<p>This is essentially adding simple drawings, arrows, borders, and diagrams to your notes. I find I&rsquo;m much more likely to review my notes, share them, and remember them whenever I sketchnote them.</p>

<p>Here&rsquo;s an example:&nbsp;</p>

<p><img alt="Green Action in ELT and virtual meetings notes" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/3085/content_elt-conference.jpg" /></p>

<p>I tend to find that whenever I sketchnote someone&rsquo;s webinar, talk, or workshop, they&rsquo;re always delighted. Even when I was just starting out. So feel the fear and post on socials anyway! You can tag me <strong>@EmilyBrysonELT</strong> and <strong>@ElliiLearning</strong> for an even greater reach.</p>

<p>Find out more about <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/sketchnoting-101-supercharged-professional-development-with-visual-notes">sketchnoting</a> by reading my previous blog post right here on Ellii.</p>

<h2><b>7. Get social&nbsp;</b></h2>

<p>As I&rsquo;ve mentioned, conferences aren&rsquo;t just about attending workshops. They are opportunities to meet new people, plant seeds for future projects, and have fun!&nbsp;</p>

<p>Both online and face-to-face conferences often have social programs. When <a href="https://innovateeltconference.com/the-event/" target="_blank">Innovate</a> was hybrid, it had a networking space, where people could log in simply for a chat. <a href="https://www.iatefl.org/conference/home">IATEFL</a> tends to have evening events such as a Quiz, <strong>Pecha Kucha</strong>, and Concerts. There can often be guided sightseeing within the schedule.&nbsp;</p>

<p>These are some of the best times to make connections. You could also arrange informal meet ups with people in ELT-themed social media groups.&nbsp;</p>

<h2><b>8. Visit the exhibition hall</b></h2>

<p>Conferences often have spaces for publishers, education providers, and other relevant organisations to share their products and services with you.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Take time to wander round, speak to the exhibitors, browse the books, and trial any software or learning tools.&nbsp;</p>

<p>If you like free stuff and discounts, this is the most likely place for it! Publishers may offer sample copies of their books for attending a workshop, while course providers may have discount codes for signing up during the conference.&nbsp;</p>

<h2><b>9. Speak!</b></h2>

<p>Presenting at a conference is an excellent way to develop professionally and share your expertise with the world. It&rsquo;s also invaluable to build your online persona.&nbsp;</p>

<p>I&rsquo;ve found that public speaking has created a snowball effect for me in terms of project offers. Many people have contacted me after conference sessions requesting that I speak at other events or collaborate with them in some way.&nbsp;</p>

<p>If you&rsquo;re still building your confidence with teacher education, start small by presenting at a local event&nbsp;or ask the conference to limit the attendance of your session. They could give you a smaller room or a later time slot, for example.&nbsp;</p>

<h2><b>10. Enjoy the journey!</b></h2>

<p>This one has two meanings. Firstly, enjoy the journey of the conference itself.&nbsp;Whether it&rsquo;s one day or a full week, you&rsquo;ll notice how you&rsquo;ve developed over the course of the event. Take time to <strong>reflect</strong> and have fun.&nbsp;</p>

<p>The second meaning is about enjoying the physical journey. As highlighted in the sketchnote above, conference travel, especially international, can have a significant effect on the environment.&nbsp;</p>

<p>If possible, find creative ways to reduce your carbon emissions. Consider ride-sharing, taking the train, or combining your trip with a vacation or another event. You could even cycle.&nbsp;</p>

<p>I&rsquo;m a big fan of cycling, and I&rsquo;m getting a bit of a reputation for cycling to conferences. So far, I&rsquo;ve cycled home to Glasgow from <strong>SATEFL</strong> (Perth, Scotland), from <strong>Glastonbury</strong> (yes, the festival) to <strong>NATECLA</strong> (Birmingham), and to IATEFL in Liverpool and Belfast.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Last year, my cycle not only cut emissions, but I also managed to raise &pound;2,000 for <a href="https://www.amalaeducation.org/" target="_blank">Amala</a>, a charitable organization that provides education for young adults living in refugee camps.</p>

<p>This year, I intend to cycle 250 miles over three days to IATEFL in Harrogate to raise money for the <a href="https://www.handsupproject.org/" target="_blank">Hands Up Project</a>.&nbsp;</p>

<p>You can find out more about my cycle on my own <a href="https://www.justgiving.com/page/emily-bryson-cycle-to-iatefl-harrogate-2023-for-hup?utm_term=jJ53wWV8k " target="_blank">blog</a>.</p>

<blockquote>
<p>What are your top tips for conferences? Feel free to share them in the comments. We&rsquo;d love to hear from you.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>
</blockquote>


How to Get the Most Out of an ELT Conference

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<p>The countdown to TESOL 2023 is on, and we&rsquo;re excited to see you in person! Here at Ellii, we&#39;re passionate about providing teachers with ready-made content and courseware&mdash;including high-quality lessons, videos, and flashcards&mdash;on a platform that students and teachers love.</p>

<p>For more than 20 years, we&#39;ve been committed to making teachers&#39; lives easier so they can teach their best class, every class. That&rsquo;s why we&rsquo;re thrilled to be a Diamond Sponsor at TESOL this year, supporting professional development for educators around the world!</p>

<h2><strong>Where to find us</strong></h2>

<p>We&#39;ll be at&nbsp;<strong>Booth 219</strong>&nbsp;in the Expo Hall.&nbsp;</p>

<p><strong>Attend our in-person sessions:</strong></p>

<ul>
	<li><strong>Wednesday, 10⁠⁠:⁠⁠00&ndash;10⁠:45 am PDT &ndash; OCC, E147/148</strong><br />
	<a href="https://events.rdmobile.com/Sessions/Details/1701550" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">Trending Content to Spark Meaningful Conversations</a></li>
	<li><strong>Wednesday, 11⁠⁠:⁠⁠30&ndash;12⁠⁠:⁠⁠15 pm PDT &ndash; OCC, Portland Ballroom 251</strong><br />
	<a href="https://events.rdmobile.com/Sessions/Details/1628768" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">Ellii Tips and Tricks for Power Users</a></li>
	<li><strong>Wednesday, 1⁠⁠:⁠⁠00&ndash;1⁠⁠:⁠⁠45 pm PDT &ndash; OCC, Portland Ballroom 251</strong><br />
	<a href="https://events.rdmobile.com/Sessions/Details/1701555" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">Teach Smarter with Ellii</a>&nbsp;</li>
	<li><strong>Wednesday, 3⁠⁠:⁠⁠00&ndash;3⁠⁠:⁠⁠30 pm PDT &ndash; Hyatt, Deschutes Ballroom A</strong><br />
	<a href="https://events.rdmobile.com/Sessions/Details/1686238" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">Coffee Chat with Ellii</a></li>
	<li><strong>Thursday, 12⁠⁠:⁠⁠00&ndash;12⁠⁠:⁠⁠45 pm PDT &ndash; OCC, Portland Ballroom 251</strong><br />
	<a href="https://events.rdmobile.com/Sessions/Details/1628767" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">The Power of Images and Video in Language Classrooms</a></li>
	<li><strong>Thursday, 3⁠⁠:⁠⁠00&ndash;3⁠⁠:⁠⁠45 pm PDT &ndash; OCC, Portland Ballroom 251</strong><br />
	<a href="https://events.rdmobile.com/Sessions/Details/1628766" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">Teach Smarter with Ellii&nbsp;</a></li>
	<li><strong>Friday, 12⁠⁠:⁠⁠00&ndash;12⁠⁠:⁠⁠45 pm PDT &ndash; OCC, Portland Ballroom 251</strong><br />
	<a href="https://events.rdmobile.com/Sessions/Details/1628769" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">Trending Content to Spark Meaningful Conversations</a></li>
</ul>

<h2><img alt="Ellii swag, raffle tickets and an apple watch " src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/3099/content_Ellii_TESOL-2023_swag.jpg" /></h2>

<h2><strong>Chocolate bars, T-shirts, and more!</strong></h2>

<p>Ellii will be handing out delicious chocolate bars due to popular demand! Meet Lei and Michelle at Booth 219 to check out our other fun Ellii swag. Be sure to enter our raffle to win an Apple Watch too!</p>

<h2><strong>Have questions?</strong></h2>

<p>Feel free to reach out to&nbsp;<a href="mailto:hello@ellii.com" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">hello@ellii.com</a>. Our team will be happy to help you.</p>

<p>We look forward to seeing you in Portland for TESOL 2023!</p>

<p>&nbsp;</p>

<p>&nbsp;</p>


Where to Find Ellii at TESOL 2023

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Stay up-to-date with ELT trends and ideas with articles from experts and teachers in the field.

Articles

<p>If you read <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/authors/emily-bryson" target="_blank">my Ellii blog posts</a> regularly, you&rsquo;ll know that I&rsquo;m passionate about bringing visuals and simple drawings into the language classroom. In addition to making content more <strong>memorable</strong>,<strong>&nbsp;</strong>they are a powerful way to <strong>support</strong> <strong>understanding</strong>,&nbsp;<strong>process information</strong>, <strong>boost&nbsp;creativity</strong>, and <strong>encourage&nbsp;critical thinking</strong>.&nbsp;</p>

<p>In this post, I&rsquo;ll explore <strong>sketchnoting</strong> and why it&rsquo;s so useful for teachers and their professional development.&nbsp;</p>

<h2>What is sketchnoting?&nbsp;</h2>

<p>As language teachers, we are forever asking students to deduce meaning by looking closely at words. Sketchnoting is the perfect example to use as a demonstration. The clues are very much in the name&mdash;taking notes with sketches!</p>

<p>Sketchnoting is also known as visual note-taking or, more formally, visual recording. It essentially combines text with drawings and diagrams to capture key information.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Here&rsquo;s an example:&nbsp;</p>

<p><img alt="sketchnoting research session" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/3065/content_sketchnoting-research.png" /></p>

<p>You&rsquo;ll notice that the drawings are <strong>quick</strong> and <strong>simple</strong>. Their purpose is to <strong>communicate key concepts</strong> and support understanding rather than to be&nbsp;artistic masterpieces. They also act as visual cues that can <strong>aid memory</strong>.&nbsp;</p>

<h2>The benefits of sketchnoting for teachers</h2>

<p>When I first started attending conferences and teacher training workshops, I would take copious notes during sessions. Those notes mostly ended up in a dusty notebook on a forgotten shelf or in the recycling bin! I certainly never looked at them again.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Once my Smartphone became my conference (and life) sidekick, I tried taking digital notes using a notepad app. I then had loads of digital notes that I occasionally searched for&nbsp;if the need arose.</p>

<p>I then discovered sketchnoting, and I haven&rsquo;t looked back. Now, every time I take notes, I<strong> take pride in making them</strong> something that I <strong>want</strong> <strong>to look</strong> at again and again. I give myself time to finalize them and really process the information within them.&nbsp;</p>

<p>When I think back on conference talks I&rsquo;ve sketchnoted, <strong>I can clearly visualize the key points</strong>. If I want to review a certain topic, I can find it easily in my &quot;sketchnotes&quot;&nbsp;folder. In addition, sharing them on socials means that I get to review the content every time someone comments.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Here&rsquo;s one from <strong>ElliiCon2022</strong>&nbsp;that tends to generate a lot of discussion on socials&nbsp;and that really sticks in my head. For me, the bathtub picture always reminds me that self-care is much more than a hot bath!</p>

<p><img alt="sketchnote self-care ElliiCon 2022" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/3070/content_content_Self-care-sketchnote.jpg" /></p>

<p>The best bit about sketchnoting for me is that it&rsquo;s finally <strong>helped me to pay attention</strong>! This is something I&rsquo;ve been terrible at my whole life. My math teacher wrote in my school reports that I&rsquo;d learn more if I wasn&rsquo;t staring out the window! If I&rsquo;d known about sketchnoting then, I may actually have understood the concept of logarithms (or maybe not)!</p>

<p>So, in sum, sketchnoting:&nbsp;</p>

<ul class="resources">
	<li class="correct">generates a desire to review notes</li>
	<li class="correct">aids focus, understanding, and information processing</li>
	<li class="correct">is a great way to get creative</li>
	<li class="correct">makes notes memorable and fun</li>
	<li class="correct">supports professional development</li>
</ul>

<h2>How to get started with sketchnoting</h2>

<p>The good news is that anyone can sketchnote. Here are some of my top tips:&nbsp;</p>

<h3>1. Use erasable pens (or pencils)!&nbsp;</h3>

<p>When starting out, I found Pilot Frixion pens invaluable. This meant I could make mistakes, redraw any icons I wasn&rsquo;t happy with, and still have finished notes that were bold and visible.&nbsp;</p>

<p>If you look closely at this one, you&rsquo;ll notice where I&rsquo;ve erased sections.&nbsp;</p>

<p><img alt="sketchnoting flip session" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/3066/content_sketchnoting-flip.png" /></p>

<h3>2. Experiment with different headings and sections</h3>

<p>Using dotted lines, double lines, clouds, banners, or boxes is a good way to separate different information&nbsp;or make your headings stand out.</p>

<p>The sketchnote below uses a name plaque for the title and for the speaker&rsquo;s name. It also uses a thought cloud, speech bubble, set of headphones, and&nbsp;large piece of paper to separate different pieces of information.&nbsp;</p>

<p><img alt="sketchnote for Nik Peachey's session at ElliiCon 2022" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/3064/content_nik-peachey-sketchnote.jpeg" /></p>

<h3>3. Practice drawing simple icons</h3>

<p>The doodles in these sketchnotes are based around international iconography. They are simplified icons that are part of a &quot;visual vocabulary&quot;&nbsp;that can be developed with practice, just like learning vocabulary in any language. To get started, try copying the drawings you can see in the sketchnotes in this post or search for &quot;icon&quot;&nbsp;images online for inspiration.&nbsp;</p>

<h3>4. Relax and have fun!</h3>

<p>Sketchnoting is a great way to quiet the mind and relax. See it as an opportunity to get creative and to interact deeply with information. Your notes are for you to develop and learn. There&rsquo;s no need for perfectionism or letting your inner troll judge you too harshly. Enjoy the process and you&rsquo;ll soon be totally hooked!</p>

<h3>5. Feel the fear&nbsp;and share them anyway!</h3>

<p>Sharing your notes can be daunting, but there is absolutely no pressure or need to do this. However, I have to say that every single time I&rsquo;ve shared my visual notes, they&rsquo;ve had a positive response. In fact, sharing them gave me the confidence to improve.&nbsp;</p>

<p>In summary, sketchnoting is an excellent way to make professional development more fun, memorable, creative, and effective. The next time you find yourself taking notes, try adding some doodles and diagrams!</p>

<blockquote>
<p>Have you tried sketchnoting at conferences or teacher training events? We&rsquo;d love to know your thoughts and experiences. Please share them in the comments.&nbsp;</p>
</blockquote>


Sketchnoting 101: Supercharge Professional Development with Visual Notes

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Learn how to make the most of your Ellii subscription with tips from our publishing team.

Teaching with Ellii

<p>Have you heard of&nbsp;<a href="https://bridge.edu/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Bridge Education Group</a>?</p>

<p>Bridge provides accessible and affordable English language teacher training, certification, and continuing professional&nbsp;development.</p>

<p>They offer&hellip;</p>

<ul>
	<li><a href="https://bridge.edu/tefl/courses" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">TEFL certification programs</a>&nbsp;that provide teachers with internationally recognized&nbsp;credentials</li>
	<li>in-depth,&nbsp;<a href="https://bridge.edu/tefl/courses/specialized" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">specialized professional development courses</a>&nbsp;to help teachers learn about the latest methodology, best practices, and technologies in&nbsp;English language teaching (ELT)</li>
	<li>short&nbsp;<a href="https://bridge.edu/tefl/courses/micro" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">micro-credential courses</a>&nbsp;specially designed to help educators gain new skills that will take their teaching to the next&nbsp;level</li>
</ul>

<p>Bridge also publishes relevant and helpful ELT news and resources on&nbsp;<a href="https://bridge.edu/tefl/blog/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">BridgeUniverse</a>.</p>

<p>Here are four&nbsp;tips from&nbsp;BridgeUniverse&rsquo;s panel on the <a href="https://vimeo.com/776708285/42107a24dd" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">best practices for correcting pronunciation errors in the ESL/EFL classroom</a> that you can incorporate into your teaching.</p>

<h2>1. Set realistic pronunciation goals with your students</h2>

<p>At the beginning of a new class, have a conversation with your students to find out what they hope to accomplish by the end of the course. Often, students will say they want to sound like someone whose&nbsp;first language is English. This gives you an opportunity to outline your vision for the class and set a more realistic goal with your students.</p>

<p>Here are some resources you may find helpful for setting realistic goals with your students:</p>

<ul class="resources">
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://app.ellii.com/lesson/2127-my-language-goals" target="_blank">My Language Goals</a></li>
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://app.ellii.com/lesson/2224-goal-setting-can-do" target="_blank">Goal-Setting &ndash;&nbsp;Can Do</a></li>
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://app.ellii.com/lesson/2671-50-pronunciation-targets" target="_blank">50 Pronunciation Targets</a></li>
</ul>

<blockquote>
<p>&quot;You don&rsquo;t need to be a native speaker to be a competent speaker in English.&quot;</p>

<p class="attribution">&mdash;DJ Kaiser, professor and director of Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) at Webster University</p>
</blockquote>

<h2>2. Show different English speakers to your students</h2>

<p>Your students may find it inspirational to see and hear from people with the same language background as them speaking English.</p>

<p>For example, if your student&rsquo;s first language is Portuguese, have them&nbsp;watch a video of a well-known person or celebrity speaking English whose first language is also Portuguese. This will help your student&nbsp;realize that they don&rsquo;t need to sound like someone whose first language is English in order to be a good English speaker.&nbsp;</p>

<h2>3. Avoid correcting every pronunciation error</h2>

<p>When it comes to correcting pronunciation errors, the panelists agreed that there are a few factors to consider, such as...</p>

<ul>
	<li>the level of your students</li>
	<li>the focus of your class</li>
	<li>what you&rsquo;ve already taught</li>
</ul>

<p>Ricardo Cezar, an English teacher and a teacher trainer based in Brazil, also considers his students&rsquo; language backgrounds.</p>

<p>&ldquo;I teach monolingual students most of the time,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;So I have to know what problems Portuguese speakers will normally have when trying to speak English.&rdquo;</p>

<p>Karen Taylor de Caballero, an educational consultant and trainer, believes rhythm and stress are important errors to focus on.</p>

<p>&ldquo;What I find is, when learners want to feel confident, the lack of confidence shows up in the rhythm, first and foremost, and the lack of comprehensibility shows up in misplaced or unperformed stress,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;So I really promote starting with stress and rhythm at the heart of that.&rdquo;</p>

<p>DJ Kaiser, professor and director of TESOL at Webster University, on the other hand, weighs comprehensibility with pronunciation.</p>

<p>&ldquo;I know a lot of people, they want to master that &lsquo;th&rsquo; sound,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;And while I&rsquo;ve got great approaches for teaching that, I also have to consider is that time worth spending to correct the pronunciation of &lsquo;th.&rsquo; The &lsquo;th&rsquo; sound typically does not lead to miscommunication. If you&rsquo;re being understood and if certain sounds really don&rsquo;t make a difference in people being able to understand you, I wouldn&rsquo;t spend time focused on it.&rdquo;</p>

<p>At the end of the day, remember that students can&rsquo;t implement every pronunciation correction all at once. They can only comprehend so much at one time. With that in mind, it&rsquo;s important to be thoughtful about the feedback you give your students. Try not to overwhelm them with so much information that they get discouraged. Consider the items that are most important and focus on those errors first.</p>

<h2>4. Make a list of pronunciation errors</h2>

<p>When your students are working on a speaking exercise in groups, walk around the classroom and&nbsp;listen to them talk. Instead of interrupting them every time a pronunciation error is made, write down all the errors on the board as you hear them.</p>

<p>At the end of class, you can discuss the list of pronunciation errors that were made with the whole class without interrupting the flow of the exercise or singling out individual students.</p>

<h2>New! Use Ellii to teach pronunciation</h2>

<p>Did you hear? We recently launched our new <a href="https://ellii.com/media/videos/pronunciation" target="_blank">Pronunciation videos</a>! In each how-to video, Lise, our social engagement manager, provides a step-by-step tutorial for how to make the sound at hand (e.g., /th/, /r/, /s/). Students are encouraged to repeat after Lise and practice pronouncing the sound out loud for themselves.</p>

<div class="videoWrapper"><iframe allow="autoplay; fullscreen" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/766180715" width="640"></iframe></div>

<p>Additional practice videos are also available, and each video links to its associated lesson.</p>

<p>We hope you enjoy these new videos&nbsp;and stay tuned as we&rsquo;ll be adding more in the near future!</p>

<div class="white-box">
<h5>Share your thoughts</h5>

<p>Teachers, how do you teach pronunciation? What errors do you focus on? Let us know in the comments below.</p>
</div>


4 Tips from BridgeUniverse on How to Correct Pronunciation Errors in the Classroom

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<p>Have you heard about the&nbsp;<a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/esl-talk/id1548652844" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank"><em>ESL Talk</em>&nbsp;podcast</a>?</p>

<p>As described on their Apple Podcast page,&nbsp;<em>ESL Talk</em>&nbsp;is &ldquo;a podcast for English teachers by English teachers.&rdquo; In each episode, the hosts and their guests discuss various teaching topics, methods, and approaches pertaining to ESL teachers. It&#39;s a fantastic way to&nbsp;hone your English teaching skills&nbsp;and stay current in the field.</p>

<p>Here are three&nbsp;key takeaways from&nbsp;<em>ESL Talk</em>&#39;s episode on <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/building-a-connection-in-the-online-environment/id1548652844?i=1000558123538" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">building a connection in the online environment</a> that you can use to strengthen your relationship with your online students.</p>

<h2>1. Get your learners to complete a questionnaire</h2>

<p>It can be hard to get to know someone in an online environment.</p>

<p>During your first class with your new students, ask them to fill out a questionnaire. Not only will this help you get to know your learners better right from the start, but it will also help you&nbsp;understand their level of familiarity with English as well as their goals for the class.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Here are some ready-made questionnaires you can use to get to know your students:</p>

<ul class="resources">
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/resources/assessment-tools/2832-english-questionnaire" target="_blank">English Questionnaire</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/resources/assessment-tools/2123-autobiography-beg" target="_blank">Autobiography &ndash;&nbsp;Beg</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/resources/assessment-tools/2124-autobiography-int" target="_blank">Autobiography &ndash;&nbsp;Int</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/resources/assessment-tools/2125-autobiography-adv" target="_blank">Autobiography &ndash;&nbsp;Adv</a></li>
</ul>

<h2>2. Play icebreaker games with your students</h2>

<p>Throughout your&nbsp;first few classes together, continue to get to know your new students by spending a few minutes playing <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/key-takeaways-from-tefl-international-webinar-on-ice-breaker-games" target="_blank">icebreaker games</a> with them. Two Truths and a Lie is a perfect icebreaker game to play with a brand-new class.</p>

<h3>How to play Two Truths and Lie</h3>

<ol>
	<li>Ask your students to write down two true statements and one false statement about themselves. Make sure you participate too!</li>
	<li>Have them take turns reading their statements out loud to the class.</li>
	<li>After they&rsquo;ve read out their statements, the rest of the class has to guess which statement was the lie.</li>
</ol>

<p>This game will&nbsp;help you get to know your class in a really fun way, and it&#39;ll help your students learn a little bit about you as well!</p>

<h2>3. Make time to&nbsp;talk with each other</h2>

<p>Typically, small talk happens much more easily and naturally in a physical classroom. In an online environment, you may have to schedule time for it.</p>

<p>Leave a few minutes at the beginning or end of class to&nbsp;make small talk with your students. Encourage your learners to share what they did today or over the weekend and what they&rsquo;re looking forward to for the upcoming week. Make sure you open up too!</p>

<p>Engaging in small talk gives your students a chance to practice their speaking skills and will help you to continue building a personal connection with them.</p>

<p>In our <a href="https://ellii.com/lessons/functional-english/1749-making-small-talk" target="_blank">Making Small Talk lesson</a>, students review appropriate subjects as well as useful phrases for beginning small talk.</p>

<div class="white-box">
<h5>Share your thoughts</h5>

<p>Teachers, what do you do to build a personal connection with your online students? Let us know in the comments below.</p>
</div>


3 Key Takeaways from ESL Talk Podcast on Building a Connection in the Online Environment

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<p>At a recent language conference in Quebec (<a href="https://www.speaq.org/en/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">SPEAQ</a>), I was able to connect with teachers from both ends of the experience spectrum. I talked to teachers&nbsp;who have been in the field since the 1980s&nbsp;and some who were just starting their careers.&nbsp;However, there was one thing we all had in common&mdash;a thirst for knowledge and a desire to improve.</p>

<p>Perhaps it&rsquo;s because for many years I taught a specialized language training course with a major home renovation retailer that I keep returning to the toolbox metaphor, but it just seems like an accurate description. As teachers, we all carry around our tried-and-true resources, whether they&#39;re digital goodies or that dog-eared&nbsp;grammar textbook that we can&#39;t bring ourselves to throw out.</p>

<p>The toolbox we bring into the classroom our first year is fairly light. It&rsquo;s packed with a great deal of theory and observation. That&rsquo;s a good starting point. However, observing a more experienced teacher&rsquo;s classroom is a fantastic way to expand your horizons. It&rsquo;s a tradition that I wish could be extended past the training period.</p>

<h2>Pineapple Charts</h2>

<p>Some K&ndash;12 schools have implemented&nbsp;the system of&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cultofpedagogy.com/pineapple-charts/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noreferrer noopener">Pineapple Charts</a>. For this observation technique, teachers let each other know when they&#39;re going to be doing something interesting or innovative in their classroom&nbsp;by adding the day and time of the activity to a chart found in a common area such as the&nbsp;teacher&#39;s lounge, copy room, etc.&nbsp;If an activity catches a&nbsp;colleague&#39;s&nbsp;eye, they&#39;re free&nbsp;to join the class&nbsp;and observe the activity in progress.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Of course, this approach could only work if there were a way to juggle classroom schedules or&nbsp;arrange a supply teacher, but what an amazing way to share meaningful best practices with your staff.</p>

<p>Pineapple Charts were all&nbsp;the rage before COVID. I&#39;m curious to know if teachers have found a way to continue this virtually, or if they have brought it back into their in-person classrooms.</p>

<h2>Sharpening our tools</h2>

<p>As we gain experience, our toolboxes expand. We test out some tools, find some that become our all-purpose, go-to resources, and over time, we discard the ones that are no longer effective.</p>

<p>One such outdated tool springs to mind.&nbsp;</p>

<p>The seasoned teacher might&nbsp;remember the L1 penalty jars.&nbsp;Penalty jars were meant to force learners to use English. Students&nbsp;would have to pay a dime&nbsp;or a quarter&nbsp;if they were &ldquo;caught&rdquo; speaking&nbsp;in another language.&nbsp;</p>

<p>I think back on that approach now&nbsp;and wonder what message we were sending our learners by punishing L1 use. There are more effective ways to encourage use of the target language without having to shame the learner.</p>

<p>My toolbox now includes&nbsp;<a href="https://ellii.com/blog/how-to-use-microsoft-immersive-reader-on-ellii" target="_blank">Microsoft&#39;s Immersive Reader,</a>&nbsp;which is available in all of Ellii&rsquo;s digital reading tasks. This tool enables learners to...</p>

<ul>
	<li>use embedded picture dictionary images</li>
	<li>isolate parts of speech</li>
	<li>listen to the reading</li>
	<li>toggle between the target language and their L1</li>
</ul>

<p>While ultimately the goal is for the learner to not have to depend on a translator, having the immersive reading experience as a set of training wheels can help in the language learning process.</p>

<p>In fact, a recent <a href="https://ontesol.com/blog/how-to-teach-english/l1-in-the-esl-classroom/using-the-mother-tongue-in-the-english-language-classroom/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">article</a> on the OnTESOL website states the following:</p>

<blockquote>Research has shown that switching between languages and translation happens instinctively to all language learners, and the L1 is actually an important resource in the second language (L2) learning (Cook, 2001; Woodall, 2002). ... Furthermore, in situations where the students&rsquo; L1 was not even allowed in private spaces and there were punishments for using the mother tongue, Goldstein (2003) found that students simply did not speak, used their L1 quietly, and felt a sense of shame when they were punished for using their own language.</blockquote>

<h2>What&#39;s in your toolbox?</h2>

<p>This past year has been one of renewal and hope. I&#39;ve had the opportunity to overhaul my teaching toolbox&nbsp;and share it with teachers across the country. What are some of your favorite tools?&nbsp;Which ones have started collecting dust (remember the SMART board&nbsp;or &ldquo;clickers&rdquo;?), and what tools are you excited to crack out of their clamshell packaging?</p>

<p>Share your thoughts in the comments below!</p>


Examining Your Teacher Toolbox

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<p>Have you heard about the&nbsp;<a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/esl-talk/id1548652844" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank"><em>ESL Talk</em>&nbsp;podcast</a>?</p>

<p>As described on their Apple Podcast page,&nbsp;<em>ESL Talk</em>&nbsp;is &ldquo;a podcast for English teachers by English teachers.&rdquo; In each episode, the hosts and their guests discuss various teaching topics, methods, and approaches pertaining to ESL teachers. It&#39;s a fantastic way to&nbsp;hone your English teaching skills&nbsp;and stay current in the field.</p>

<p>Here are three&nbsp;key takeaways from&nbsp;<em>ESL Talk</em>&#39;s episode on&nbsp;<a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/fostering-independent-learning/id1548652844?i=1000540594466" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">fostering independent learning</a>&nbsp;that you can incorporate into your teaching.</p>

<h2>1. Encourage your students to practice English outside of class time</h2>

<p>If you see your students on a regular basis, ask them at the end of each class what they&rsquo;re going to do over the following week or weekend to practice English. When you ask your students this, you&rsquo;re not just telling them that they need to study the language on their own time. You&rsquo;re taking it one step further and asking them to tell you exactly <em>how</em> they&rsquo;re going to work on improving their skills.</p>

<p>If your English learners aren&rsquo;t sure what activity they want&nbsp;to do, this&nbsp;gives you an opportunity to brainstorm some ideas with them. For example, students&nbsp;can...</p>

<ul>
	<li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/c/Esl-library/playlists" target="_blank">watch one of our videos on YouTube</a> to increase their fluency</li>
	<li><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/improve-your-listening-with-true-stories" target="_blank">listen to a podcast</a> to improve their listening skills</li>
	<li><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/what-makes-you-cozy" target="_blank">try an activity from our blog</a> to practice their writing</li>
	<li>read a book to improve their reading skills</li>
</ul>

<p>If your students are interested in doing some extra reading, have them check out our reading recommendations:</p>

<ul>
	<li><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/reading-recommendations-for-your-low-int-students" target="_blank">Reading Recommendations for Your Low-Intermediate Students</a></li>
	<li><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/reading-recommendations-high-intermediate-students" target="_blank">Reading Recommendations for Your High-Intermediate Students</a></li>
	<li><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/reading-recommendations-for-advanced-students" target="_blank">Reading Recommendations for Your Advanced Students</a></li>
</ul>

<h2>2. Help your students create a practice schedule</h2>

<p>Work with each student individually to craft a schedule that works for them and that gets them into the habit of practicing English on their own time. Outlining the exact days and times your students are expected to devote to additional language learning will give them a clear and focused plan to follow.</p>

<p>To hold them accountable, have them keep a log of what they do during this time. You can also ask them to share the activities they did in&nbsp;class.</p>

<blockquote>
<p>&quot;Those who took control of their own learning were much more engaged.&quot;</p>

<p class="attribution">&mdash;Fiona, guest speaker on <em>ESL Talk</em> podcast</p>
</blockquote>

<h2>3. Get your students to keep a reflection journal</h2>

<p>In life, we learn when we reflect. This is also true when it comes to our students&rsquo; language learning journeys.</p>

<p>When students learn something new, it&rsquo;s incredibly beneficial to have them take some time to reflect on what they&rsquo;ve learned.</p>

<p>If you&rsquo;re in a physical classroom, students can keep a physical journal. If you&rsquo;re teaching online, students can use a document in&nbsp;<a href="https://www.google.ca/docs/about/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Google Docs</a>. They can also use a regular piece of paper to jot down their thoughts.</p>

<p>At the end of class or at the end of a week, guide your students in a few minutes of reflection time by asking them questions like:</p>

<ul>
	<li>What did you learn?</li>
	<li>How did you feel when you were learning it?</li>
	<li>What were you proud of?</li>
	<li>What worked?</li>
	<li>What didn&rsquo;t work?</li>
	<li>What would you do differently?</li>
</ul>

<p>Here are some ready-made assessment&nbsp;tools&nbsp;you may also find useful:</p>

<ul>
	<li><a href="https://ellii.com/resources/assessment-tools/2370-weekly-reflection" target="_blank">Weekly Reflection</a></li>
	<li><a href="https://ellii.com/resources/assessment-tools/2225-monthly-reflection" target="_blank">Monthly Reflection</a></li>
	<li><a href="https://ellii.com/resources/assessment-tools/2557-3-2-1-reflection" target="_blank">3-2-1 Reflection</a></li>
	<li><a href="https://ellii.com/resources/assessment-tools/3196-weekly-check-in-literacy" target="_blank">Weekly Check-In (Literacy)</a></li>
</ul>

<div class="white-box">
<h5>Share your thoughts</h5>

<p>Teachers, how do you foster independent learning? Let us know in the comments below.</p>
</div>


3 Key Takeaways from ESL Talk Podcast on Fostering Independent Learning

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<p>We were thrilled to sponsor, attend, and present at&nbsp;TESL Ontario&#39;s 50th annual conference this fall! Like every year, there were a ton of takeaways at this landmark event.</p>

<p>Here&nbsp;are 10 tips Ellii&#39;s Publishing team&nbsp;collected and wanted to share with our ELT community.&nbsp;</p>

<h2>1. Set multi-year goals&nbsp;</h2>

<p>In his keynote, <strong>Make the Impossible Possible: Lessons from an Improbable Olympic Journey</strong>,&nbsp;Canadian rower Jeremiah Brown captivated the audience with his story-telling.</p>

<p>He also&nbsp;shared&nbsp;practical&nbsp;tips about <a href="https://ellii.com/resources/assessment-tools/2127-my-language-goals" target="_blank">goal-setting</a> that can be modeled or passed on to students.</p>

<p><strong>Jeremiah recommended&nbsp;elongating our goals.</strong> Ask the question:&nbsp;<em>Where do you want to be in 4 years?</em><em> </em>The Olympian recommended setting a multi-year overarching goal first&nbsp;and then breaking it down into <a href="https://ellii.com/resources/assessment-tools/2224-goal-setting-can-do" target="_blank">milestones</a>.</p>

<p>Jeremiah believes&nbsp;that daily execution is needed to see real progress, even if you can&#39;t see results&nbsp;for a few months. He also reminded goal-setters to always <strong>be flexible</strong> and to <strong>continue making adjustments</strong>.&nbsp;</p>

<p><img alt="4-year Olympic rower Jeremiah Brown at TESL Ontario 2022." src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2821/content_Jeremiah-Brown.jpg" /></p>

<p class="caption">Canadian rower and Olympic silver medalist&nbsp;Jeremiah Brown at TESL Ontario&nbsp;2022.</p>

<h2>2. Identify the use case or purpose when&nbsp;validating an assessment&nbsp;</h2>

<p>Throughout the conference, we learned lots of great tips about <a href="https://ellii.com/resources/assessment-tools" target="_blank">assessments</a> that we can apply at Ellii.</p>

<p>We thought this practical assessment tip (heard in a session titled: <strong>A Classroom-Based Validation Study of an English Listening Test</strong>) was worth repeating for teachers who create and administer assessments. As Jeanne Sinclair pointed out, teachers&nbsp;should always be able to answer whether an assessment is meant for <strong>admission</strong>, <strong>placement</strong>, <strong>achievement</strong>, or <strong>certification.</strong></p>

<p><img alt="Purpose of language assessments" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2822/content_Purpose-of-language-assessments.jpg" /></p>

<p class="caption">Language assessments presentation slide from Jeanne Sinclair and Karam Noel&#39;s TESL Ontario 2022 session: A Classroom-Based Validation Study of an English Listening Test.</p>

<h2>3. Pause for twice as long as it takes to say a word&nbsp;in a Listen &amp; Repeat task&nbsp;</h2>

<p>This&nbsp;simple but helpful tip, heard at a MOSAIC session titled, <strong>Instructional Design to Engage the Literacy Learner</strong>,<strong>&nbsp;</strong>is useful for publishers&nbsp;like Ellii&nbsp;as well as teachers who regularly model the <a href="https://ellii.com/lessons/pronunciation" target="_blank">pronunciation</a> of sounds, words, and expressions and ask students to listen and repeat.&nbsp;</p>

<h2>4. Practice&nbsp;answering the 5 Wh-&nbsp;questions when listening to dialogues&nbsp;</h2>

<p>At an excellent session about CELPIP, Canada&#39;s general English test for <a href="https://ellii.com/lessons/living-in-english/2268-canadian-citizenship" target="_blank">citizenship</a>, Brandi Robb encouraged teachers to get their students used to answering the 5 Wh-questions&nbsp;about any conversation they hear. They&nbsp;should also <a href="https://ellii.com/lessons/everyday-dialogues" target="_blank">practice listening to dialogues</a> with two or three people to better prepare for listening&nbsp;tests like CELPIP.</p>

<p>Beyond the test, this will&nbsp;help learners&nbsp;comprehend and engage&nbsp;in&nbsp;real-world encounters.</p>

<p><img alt="asking questions about speakers in a dialogue" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2880/content_Screen_Shot_2022-11-18_at_2.48.04_PM.png" /></p>

<p class="caption">Brandi Robb describes how to prepare students for the listening portion of a CELPIP exam.</p>

<h2>5. Create needs assessments that specify real-life situations&nbsp;</h2>

<p>This important reminder was repeated at a few different sessions. Instead of focusing on just the theme of <strong>health</strong> or even <strong>going to the doctor</strong>, a needs assessment worksheet should specify the real-world tasks (<strong>describing an illness or injury</strong>) that students come across in real-life situations.&nbsp;</p>

<p>At their <a href="https://issbc.org/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">ISSofBC</a>&nbsp;session,&nbsp;Sandra Carignan and Claire Pinkett gave attendees a chance&nbsp;to workshop improvements to a needs assessment resource.</p>

<p><img alt="Needs Assessment presentation slide from TESL Ontario" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2823/content_Needs-Assessment.jpg" /></p>

<p class="caption">ISSofBC&#39;s Needs Assessment Workshop at TESL Ontario&nbsp;2022.</p>

<h2>6. Include students when testing the validity of learning content</h2>

<p>At <a href="https://mosaicbc.org/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">MOSAIC BC</a>&#39;s session on <strong>Core Principles for Coherent Online Curriculum,&nbsp;</strong>Dr. Noureddine Elouazizi, who conducted an evaluation of MOSAIC&#39;s curriculum, pointed out the importance of doing student surveys and not just relying on teachers, administrators, or&nbsp;AI&nbsp;to validate a program&#39;s coherence.</p>

<h2>7. Utilize multi-modal tasks&nbsp;for deeper learning</h2>

<p>Later in MOSAIC BC&#39;s session, Matthew Levan and Astrid van der Pol suggested that one simple way to&nbsp;improve a curriculum is to <a href="http://ellii.com/media/videos" target="_blank">bring in more video content</a>. This was just one of their tips about making system-wide improvements.</p>

<p>They&nbsp;highlighted the fact&nbsp;that LINC teachers trained in Portfolio-Based Language Assessment (PBLA) are used to systems and system-thinking&mdash;checking in and reflecting on what works and doesn&#39;t work. They also recommended this <a href="https://www.ted.com/talks/manu_kapur_productive_failure" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">TED Talk on Productive Failure</a>.</p>

<p><img alt="Multi-modal learning MOSAIC slide at TESL Ontario 2022" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2824/content_Multi-Modal-Learning.jpg" /></p>

<p class="caption">Multi-Modal Learning presentation slide from MOSAIC BC at TESL Ontario&nbsp;2022.</p>

<h2>8. Select&nbsp;one linguistical error at a time when giving interactional (person-to-person)&nbsp;feedback</h2>

<p>At the <strong>Research Symposium: 50 Years of Reflexivity in TESL</strong>,&nbsp;Hossein Nassaji, Nina Spada, and Ron Thomson shared important research about feedback, including being selective about when and what you correct.&nbsp;On this note, the Ellii team also received lots of requests for an audio feedback tool!</p>

<h2>9. Reduce student anxiety with clarity about the&nbsp;format of a test or task&nbsp;</h2>

<p>As emphasized in Ken Beatty&#39;s session&nbsp;<strong>My Robot Teacher? Digital Futures for Language Learning</strong>, students perform better when there is&nbsp;clarity on how to do tasks, what the expectations are, and how much tasks are worth.</p>

<p>Students often admit&nbsp;to being more anxious about the format and expectations of an assessment than about the content itself.</p>

<h2>10. Don&#39;t be tempted to show or tell everything you know</h2>

<p>This advice, which we noted while&nbsp;attending<strong> </strong>Lisa Hererra&#39;s<strong> </strong>session on digital learning, is useful for&nbsp;teachers, students, and even bloggers!</p>

<p>We took pages of notes and learned&nbsp;so much at the TESL Ontario Conference. That said,&nbsp;we&#39;ve found that&nbsp;working with a small list of actionables based on some of our top takeaways is the best way to get the most out of our professional development.&nbsp;</p>

<p>As Jeremiah reminded us in his keynote,&nbsp;<strong>resilience</strong>&nbsp;can be defined as &quot;taking the smallest step forward when things feel hard.&quot;</p>

<p><img alt="ISSofBC TESL Ontario 2022 session." src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2825/content_Strategies-for-ensuring-successful-digital-skill-learning.jpg" /></p>

<p class="caption">Lisa Herrera&#39;s&nbsp;TESL Ontario 2022 session: How to Teach Digital Skills to Newcomers.</p>

<div class="white-box">
<h5>Did you attend TESL Ontario 2022?</h5>

<p>Please leave us a comment and share&nbsp;the best tip you learned at the conference. What&#39;s one actionable step you plan&nbsp;on taking to improve your teaching or program?&nbsp;</p>
</div>


10 Tips from TESL Ontario's 50th English Language Teaching Conference

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<p>Our second annual virtual conference, held on September 15 and 16,&nbsp;was a huge success thanks to all of the organizers, speakers, and attendees.</p>

<p>After attending any <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/categories/conferences" target="_blank">conference</a>, I love to jot down my top takeaways so that I can look back and see how far we&#39;ve come.&nbsp;</p>

<p>The theme for this year&#39;s conference was<strong> Simplicity in ELT</strong>, so here is my simple summary of ElliiCon2022!</p>

<h2>S is for speaking activities</h2>

<p>We were thrilled to have <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/elliicon2022-shelly-terrell" target="_blank">Shelly Terrell</a>, a friend and former ESL Library blogger, join us at ElliiCon2022. Shelly has always shared the top digital tools with our community.</p>

<p>At ElliiCon, Shelly had&nbsp;<a href="https://www.shellyterrell.com/speaking.html" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">plenty of fun ideas</a> for getting students to speak up. I especially loved her idea of using <strong>avatar apps</strong>&nbsp;with shy students as well as this<strong> Show-n-Tell with a Cell</strong> activity.</p>

<p><img alt="show and tell with a cell" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2746/content_Show_and_tell_cell_.jpg" /></p>

<p class="caption">Shelly Terrell presents her &quot;Show-n-Tell with a Cell&quot; activity at ElliiCon2022.</p>

<p><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/elliicon2022-karina-zew" target="_blank">Karina Zew</a> from <a href="https://bridge.edu/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Bridge</a>&nbsp;also shared a fun speaking task where students practice intonation and body language using the simple word &quot;hey.&quot;</p>

<p><img alt="Drawing that demonstrates two people using different intonation and body language with the word hey." src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2747/content_Hey.jpg" /></p>

<p class="caption">Karina Zew shows teachers how students can practice intonation using the word &quot;hey.&quot;</p>

<h2>I is for inspiring ideas for assessment</h2>

<p><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/elliicon2022-dr-ken-beatty" target="_blank">Dr. Ken Beatty</a> kept things simple by helping teachers rethink assessment. His ideas included having students create their own assessments and asking them to predict&nbsp;what would be on a test.&nbsp;</p>

<p><img alt="Dr. Ken Beatty's assessment idea." src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2748/content_Student_Tests.jpg" /></p>

<p class="caption">Dr. Ken Beatty talks about agile assessment at ElliiCon2022.</p>

<p><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/elliicon2022-keishia-thorpe" target="_blank">Keishia Thorpe</a> also talked about assessment and the importance of helping newcomer students feel safe and welcome in order to maximize their potential.&nbsp;</p>

<p><img alt="Famous quote by Reyes et al 2012 on assessment." src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2749/content_Assessment.jpg" /></p>

<p class="caption">Keishia Thorpe talks about a famous quote by Reyes et al. on assessment during her session at ElliiCon2022.</p>

<h2>M is for more than just bubble baths&nbsp;</h2>

<p><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/elliicon2022-dr-katie-welch" target="_blank">Dr. Katie Welch</a> returned to ElliiCon2022 to talk more about social-emotional health.&nbsp;Dr. Welch shared practical tips for teachers&nbsp;including <strong>setting boundaries</strong>, <strong>streamlining with templates</strong>, and <strong>celebrating why we do what we do</strong>.&nbsp;</p>

<p>She got a lot of love for her&nbsp;<strong>Circle of Influence</strong> tip, where teachers focus on what they can do (vote, mentor, advocate for change) rather than what is out of their control.</p>

<p><img alt="Presenter showing her Why I Teach Binder on screen." src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2750/content_Why-I-teach-Binder.jpg" /></p>

<p class="caption">Dr. Katie Welch presents her Why I Teach binder as an example of how teachers can celebrate why they do what they do.</p>

<h2>P is for prizes and prizewinners</h2>

<p>There were fun prizes auctioned off after every ElliiCon session, including Ellii mugs, water bottles, hats, T-shirts, and most importantly, free subscriptions! All of the speakers also received the same swag that they were giving away, which was&nbsp;a fun way to model the prizes.&nbsp;</p>

<h1><strong><img alt="a list of the prize winners" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2756/content_Winners.jpg" /></strong></h1>

<p class="caption">List of ElliiCon2022 winners.</p>

<p>Congrats to all winners! Be sure to complete our Post-Event Survey (sent via email) before September 26 for a chance to win the grand prize: an <strong>Apple Watch</strong>! Two runner-up winners will receive a 1-year subscription to Ellii. Registrants of ElliiCon2022, keep an eye on your inbox to enter.</p>

<h2>L is for laughter and light-hearted learning</h2>

<p>I&#39;m sure all attendees would agree that our lovely host (and <a href="https://www.instagram.com/esllibrary/?hl=en" target="_blank">Instagram</a>&nbsp;star)&nbsp;<a href="https://ellii.com/blog/authors/lise-papineau" target="_blank">Lise</a>&nbsp;helped set the mood for a light-hearted learning event.&nbsp;</p>

<p><img alt="Ellii Staff at ElliiCon2022." src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2752/content_Team.jpg" /></p>

<p class="caption">Lise (bottom left corner) and the Ellii team at ElliiCon2022.</p>

<p>At Ellii, we love telling and hearing stories and often start meetings with jokes or tales. Our&nbsp;CEO, Ben, kept things simple this year by shining a spotlight on our CTO, Eduardo.</p>

<p>Eduardo works tirelessly behind the scenes&nbsp;and is responsible for keeping Ellii running&nbsp;24/7 for teachers and students around the world. We hope you all got a chance to meet him at the Presenter Q&amp;A Table.</p>

<p><img alt="Ben and Eduardo laughing at ElliiCon2022." src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2753/content_Laughter.jpg" /></p>

<p class="caption">CEO Ben Buckwold (left) and CTO Eduardo Prauze (right) having a good time at ElliiCon2022.</p>

<h2>I is for intensive listening activities&nbsp;</h2>

<p>We were thrilled and honored to have <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/elliicon2022-nik-peachey" target="_blank">Nik Peachey</a> speaking at ElliiCon this year. Nik shared simple, yet effective ideas and activities for listening practice,&nbsp;such as asking more questions that we don&#39;t know the answer to and having students convert closed questions (Yes/No)&nbsp;into open-ended ones.</p>

<p>The Publishing team was madly taking notes throughout Nik&#39;s session, inspired to continue improving our&nbsp;NEW&nbsp;<a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/139/resources" target="_blank">Photo Prompts</a> section and <a href="https://ellii.com/media/videos/silent-clips" target="_blank">Silent Clips</a>&nbsp;video category.&nbsp;</p>

<p><img alt="Nik Peachy talks about listening comprehension at ElliiCon2022." src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2754/content_Open-ended-photo-prompts.jpg" /></p>

<p class="caption">Nik Peachey talks about listening comprehension at ElliiCon2022.</p>

<h2>C is for Coffee Talks</h2>

<p>A few members of Ellii&#39;s&nbsp;Publishing team (Jen, Ann, Tanya, and I) kicked ElliiCon off each morning with an informal Coffee Talk.</p>

<p>On Thursday we chatted about simplicity and shared some of our favorite simplicity hacks. (You all ran out and bought a pay-attention-rubber-chicken, right?)&nbsp;We also shared some improvements&nbsp;Ellii has made this year to make teaching easier (<a href="https://ellii.com/collections" target="_blank">Collections</a>, <a href="https://ellii.com/media/videos" target="_blank">Video gallery</a>, <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/research-behind-ellii-auto-scoring-ai-feature" target="_blank">Ellii Bot</a>, and<a href="https://ellii.com/blog/feature-releases-platform-updates-2022" target="_blank">&nbsp;improved task designs</a>).&nbsp;</p>

<p>On Friday we focused on creativity and&nbsp;shared our <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/word-of-the-year-2022" target="_blank">Word of the Year</a> wall as well as other creative projects we&#39;ve done at Ellii, including our&nbsp;<a href="https://ellii.com/blog/wordless-lessons-project" target="_blank">Wordless Lessons</a>.&nbsp;We talked about what we do to incorporate creativity into our own lives and <a href="https://theimportantsite.com/10-reasons-why-creativity-is-important/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">why creativity is important</a>&nbsp;for teachers and students.</p>

<h3>Watch Recorded Coffee Talk Sessions</h3>

<ul>
	<li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_2RrMPK5WU&amp;list=PL0MvnNQjMzmYCMFFM_d_pbeEyoPqmVNQ3&amp;index=2" target="_blank">Coffee Talk 1: S is for Simplicity</a></li>
	<li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dzwmlFk7eW8&amp;list=PL0MvnNQjMzmYCMFFM_d_pbeEyoPqmVNQ3&amp;index=7" target="_blank">Coffee Talk 2: Create &amp; Innovate</a></li>
</ul>

<h2>I is for innovative flashcard activities</h2>

<p>Ellii&#39;s&nbsp;very own Jen took attendees on an adventure through the <a href="https://ellii.com/media/flashcards" target="_blank">Flashcard gallery</a>, sharing innovative ways to use images in the classroom while also highlighting lots of features Ellii subscribers may be unfamiliar with, such as the ability to edit text, play audio,&nbsp;and make changes on the fly.</p>

<p>I hope you&#39;ll all try Jen&#39;s <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Dl7D2WCzc4"><strong>What are you doing this weekend?</strong></a> activity.&nbsp;</p>

<h2>T is for talking at tables with teachers</h2>

<p>Between ElliiCon sessions, attendees could either take a break or stay online for speed networking or table talk!&nbsp;</p>

<p>At the Publishing Team Table, members of the Publishing team (including Alison, Lula, and Lara who weren&#39;t in the Coffee Talks)&nbsp;enjoyed meeting new teachers after every session. We took down some excellent requests for new <a href="https://ellii.com/lessons" target="_blank">lessons</a>, <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/feature-releases-platform-updates-2022" target="_blank">features</a>, and <a href="https://ellii.com/media/flashcards" target="_blank">flashcard</a> categories and also enjoyed some small talk.</p>

<h2>Y is for &quot;You can draw too!&quot;</h2>

<p>One of my favorite parts of the conference was the invitation to doodle along!&nbsp;</p>

<p>ELT graphic facilitator <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/elliicon2022-emily-bryson" target="_blank">Emily Bryson</a>&#39;s interactive drawing workshop showed how simple&nbsp;illustrations&nbsp;reduce&nbsp;the processing load on our learners.&nbsp;From roadmaps and visual rubrics to the Feedback Fairy, I think we can all agree that graphic facilitation is a superpower we can find a use for!</p>

<p><img alt="Drawings of common icons used in graphic facilitation like a drawing of an ear for listening and a drawing of speech bubbles for speaking." src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2755/content_Graphic-facilitation.jpg" /></p>

<p class="caption">Emily Bryson shows how drawing simple icons can help students learn and retain new vocabulary.</p>

<p>PS. I had fun <a href="https://twitter.com/tarabenwell/status/1570818308504702977" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">sketchnoting Emily&#39;s session</a>&nbsp;while she&nbsp;created sketchnotes&nbsp;of all the other sessions. (Emily&#39;s summaries will be available soon!)</p>

<p>If you registered for ElliiCon2022 and missed out on the event or would like to relive the magic, you can watch a replay of the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nvm-WZozaTw&amp;list=PL0MvnNQjMzmYCMFFM_d_pbeEyoPqmVNQ3">ElliiCon sessions on YouTube</a>!</p>

<div class="white-box">
<h5>What did you think of ElliiCon2022?</h5>

<p>If you joined us at ElliiCon2022, please share your top takeaway!&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>
</div>


ElliiCon2022: Highlights & Takeaways

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<div class="white-box">
<p>This September 15 and 16, 2022, we&rsquo;ll be hosting&nbsp;<a href="https://ellii.com/conference/2022" target="_blank">ElliiCon</a>, a free, two-day virtual conference to explore simple, effective, and practical strategies that will help you build stronger relationships with your students and engage them in a more meaningful way. This article is part of a series of posts introducing some of the conference&nbsp;speakers.</p>
</div>

<p>Kieshia Thorpe is a US English teacher, licensed principal, and the winner of the <a href="https://www.globalteacherprize.org/person?id=15192" rel="noopener, noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">2021 Varkey Foundation Global Teacher Prize</a>&nbsp;in partnership with UNESCO. She&#39;ll be joining us at ElliiCon on September&nbsp;15.</p>

<p>Over the past few years, Keishia has dedicated herself to helping her grade 12 English language learners&mdash;95% of whom identify as low-income&mdash;level up their skills and prepare for&nbsp;college.</p>

<p>In addition to assisting her senior students with applying for college and scholarships, she also revamped the grade 12 English curriculum to make it more engaging and culturally relevant to her first-generation American, immigrant, and refugee students. Consequently, her English learners&rsquo; <strong>reading skills have</strong> <strong>improved by&nbsp;40%</strong>.</p>

<p>&quot;Every child needs a champion, an adult who will never, ever give up on them, who understands the power of connection and insists they become the very best they can possibly be,&quot; said Keishia via video conference after winning the 2021 Global Teacher Prize.&nbsp;&quot;This is exactly why teachers will always&nbsp;matter.&quot;</p>

<div class="videoWrapper"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/W0h4cJHgIpo" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe></div>

<p class="caption">YouTube</p>

<p>Keishia is also the cofounder of <a href="https://www.uselite.org/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">US Elite International</a>, a non-profit organization that helps at-risk student-athletes around the world obtain fully funded scholarships to colleges and universities across the&nbsp;US.</p>

<p>So far, 500 students have received full&nbsp;scholarships.</p>

<blockquote>
<p>&quot;Education is a human right and all students should have access to it at all&nbsp;levels.&quot;</p>

<p class="attribution">&mdash;Keisha Thorpe</p>
</blockquote>

<h2>Learn about developing global citizens through culturally responsive practices with Keishia at ElliiCon2022</h2>

<p>On September 15, Keishia will be joining us at ElliiCon2022 to talk about how you can engage your students and make learning relevant to the real&nbsp;world.</p>

<p>You&rsquo;ll discover how to integrate culturally responsive practices that promote equity and inclusivity in the classroom and how you can support students in becoming global&nbsp;citizens.</p>

<blockquote>
<p><strong>Join us at ElliiCon2022!</strong></p>

<p>Want to attend Keishia&rsquo;s presentation?&nbsp;<a href="https://www.airmeet.com/e/0ee877b0-e369-11ec-b1b2-394b94cc9521" target="_blank">Register for ElliiCon2022</a>&nbsp;(it&#39;s&nbsp;free!).</p>
</blockquote>


ElliiCon2022 Speaker Spotlight: Keishia Thorpe

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<div class="white-box">
<p>This September 15 and 16, 2022, we&rsquo;ll be hosting&nbsp;<a href="https://ellii.com/conference/2022" target="_blank">ElliiCon</a>, a free, two-day virtual conference to explore simple, effective, and practical strategies that will help you build stronger relationships with your students and engage them in a more meaningful way. This article is part of a series of posts introducing some of the conference speakers.</p>
</div>

<p>Those who attended our virtual conference last year will recognize this speaker! We&rsquo;re thrilled to announce that Dr. Katie Welch will be joining us once again at ElliiCon2022 on September 16.</p>

<p>Dr. Welch is an educational consultant at <a href="https://www.welcheducation.com/" target="_blank">Welch Education</a> in Dallas, Texas. For two decades, Dr. Welch has&nbsp;taught and trained teachers to effectively work with English learners at the K&ndash;12, adult, and higher education levels.</p>

<p>She currently provides professional development to language educators through partnerships with institutions like the US Department of State and Cambridge University Press.</p>

<h2>Literacy for multilingual learners</h2>

<p>An education topic that Dr. Welch is closely following these days is <strong>literacy for multilingual learners</strong>.</p>

<p>&ldquo;In the US K&ndash;12 space, there&#39;s been a shift in recent years toward &lsquo;the science of teaching reading,&rsquo;&rdquo; said Dr. Welch. &ldquo;Many states, including Texas where I&#39;m located,&nbsp;have retooled their teacher&nbsp;certification exams and are now requiring elementary school teachers&nbsp;to take part in reading academies to become more proficient in early literacy&nbsp;research.&quot;<br />
<br />
According to Dr. Welch,&nbsp;teachers of multilingual students have concerns that the research does not take into account the unique needs of English learners.</p>

<p>She says that while&nbsp;these conversations are most&nbsp;applicable to those in K&ndash;6 education, the topic of literacy is emerging more broadly as an area of interest applicable to all levels.<br />
<br />
&quot;I just read a great&nbsp;<a href="http://blog.tesol.org/literacy-vs-reading-3-questions-to-consider-this-fall/?utm_content=buffer378e0&amp;utm_medium=social&amp;utm_source=linkedin.com&amp;utm_campaign=buffer" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">TESOL International blog</a>&nbsp;this week about how our understanding of literacy is growing beyond just the discrete skill of reading,&quot; said Dr. Welch.&nbsp;&quot;Since reading is one of the four foundational language skills of English language teaching, this shift is definitely one to watch.&rdquo;</p>

<p>As an educational consultant, Dr. Welch explains she is also incredibly passionate about helping other teachers:</p>

<blockquote>
<p>&quot;I tend to &lsquo;nerd-out&rsquo; on all things pedagogy, so what I&rsquo;m most excited about right now is how I can be the best teacher I can be and how I can help other teachers do the same in their classrooms.</p>

<p>I especially enjoy following other educators on Twitter because I learn so much by seeing what others are doing in their classrooms.</p>

<p>Just today, I was inspired by a teacher who said&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/JakeMillerTech/status/1556943494354276354?s=20&amp;t=Pe9fWiLRtX6vCtmtWD6srg" target="_blank">he turns his syllabus into a mad-lib</a>&nbsp;as a way to build community, help students become aware of learning targets, and keep students interested in what otherwise can be a very boring first-day-of-class housekeeping matter.</p>

<p>I love adding new ideas like this to my teacher toolkit and enjoy passing them along to others&nbsp;as well.&quot;</p>
</blockquote>

<h2>Learn about addressing teachers&rsquo; social-emotional needs with Dr. Welch at ElliiCon2022</h2>

<p>On September 16, Dr. Welch will be joining us at ElliiCon2022 to talk about <strong>self-care</strong>.</p>

<p>&ldquo;The last few years have been so difficult for teachers,&rdquo; said&nbsp;Dr. Welch. &ldquo;Teaching was already a challenging profession, and the pandemic exacerbated that even more.&quot;<br />
<br />
Dr. Welch has&nbsp;spent more than a decade training teachers and has recently seen many former students&mdash;who she says were fantastic teachers&mdash;leave the profession altogether.<br />
<br />
&quot;Those&nbsp;who have stayed are often teaching with as much or more pressure than they had pre-pandemic but with much less energy and emotional reserves.&quot;</p>

<p>At last year&rsquo;s conference, Dr. Welch addressed students&rsquo; well-being and discussed how to cultivate social and emotional learning in the ESL classroom.</p>

<p>This year, Dr. Welch will focus on&nbsp;<strong>teachers&rsquo; social and emotional needs</strong>. She&rsquo;ll unpack how sustainable self-care must go beyond bubble baths and massages and instead address the underlying issues that make teaching so challenging.</p>

<p>Attendees will gain practical, concrete solutions for how they can prioritize their own social and emotional well-being so that they can bring their best self to the classroom each week.</p>

<p>&ldquo;While the topic of self-care tends to evoke images of bubble baths and massages (both good things!), I want to give teachers some additional tools to cope with the emotional labor that is often required when working with immigrants or refugees from traumatic backgrounds,&rdquo; said Dr. Welch.</p>

<p>&ldquo;I have personally walked through a season of burnout in my teaching journey and had to learn the hard way how to prioritize my own well-being,&quot; she admitted.&nbsp;&quot;I look forward to sharing some of those hard-won lessons with the Ellii conference participants&nbsp;as well as some practical ways that teachers can bring their best selves to the classroom each&nbsp;day. I hope attendees will leave feeling refreshed and encouraged!&rdquo;</p>

<blockquote>
<p><strong>Join us at ElliiCon2022!</strong></p>

<p>Want to attend Dr. Welch&rsquo;s presentation?&nbsp;<a href="https://www.airmeet.com/e/0ee877b0-e369-11ec-b1b2-394b94cc9521" target="_blank">Register for ElliiCon2022</a>&nbsp;(it&#39;s free!).</p>

<p>To learn more about Dr. Welch, visit her <a href="https://www.welcheducation.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">website</a>. You can also follow her on <a href="https://twitter.com/drkatiewelch" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Twitter</a>.</p>
</blockquote>
